Page 36 of The Alpha and the Baker

Castiel

It’s Just That Easy

My head was spinning.

Spinning, reeling, running around in circles, and chasing its own tail trying to catch up with everything that had happened.

What.

The.

Hell.

Not only was Felicia very much not a Wild Hunter, but she seemed completely at ease with the revelation that there were entire species of magical folks she had no idea about living among humans. It was hard to believe, but the proof was in the pudding.

Sure, her heart had been thundering when she first pulled up, but once I agreed to walk with her, it had calmed down instantly. She wasn’t scared of me. No, if anything, she seemed to care a whole lot about my forgiveness.

Insanity. Pure insanity.

Now that the furor of the moment had passed, I was becoming more and more embarrassed about how I’d fled her apartment.

I really should have stuck around. But I’d heard so many horror stories about humans going on social media with the information or turning out to be enemies that I’d reacted before I could think.

Lesson learned. Sometimes I was so obsessed with continuing my father’s legacy that I got far too in my head.

But that was only because I took my duty as an alpha so seriously.

I cared more for my pack than I did myself, and I would lay down my life for them if needed without so much as blinking.

Still, I was overjoyed that Felicia wasn’t a threat to the people I loved.

The question was, however… now what ?

Well, I supposed the simple answer was that we were going to dinner. That was just about the last thing I expected and probably not something I would recommend, but if Siobhan said to come to dinner, one went to dinner and didn’t argue about it, alpha or not.

“This is your second family function I’m crashing, isn’t it?” Felicia said, sounding amused, but I didn’t miss the hint of worry in there. As confusing and surprising as the whole situation was, I wanted her to feel assured.

“It’s not crashing when you’re invited,” I corrected gently. “And when you’re invited, you are family.”

The little skip in her heartbeat was just as unmistakable as it had been the first time. Words she’d spoken at the reunion and what I had read about her the night before replayed in my mind.

I miss my father.

But my dad is gone, so it is only my mother doing everything.

I miss my mom.

I never had a big family like this.

Some people were loners, and that was perfectly fine, but it was becoming increasingly clear that Felicia would not have chosen that life for herself—neither would her mother have.

As such, I felt the growing desire to do something for her.

It didn’t seem fair that someone so kind, and funny, and just all-around good had had such a lousy hand dealt to her.

Maybe Gammy McCallister had sensed exactly that, which was why she’d insisted Felicia stick around at the reunion.

Or maybe Gammy McCallister was about as blind as a bat and deaf as a log and got her confused with Saoirse or Melodie.

Either way, maybe I was getting too into my feelings, but things were beginning to feel a little bit…

Well, meant to be.

Was I crazy? It felt like I was crazy. Especially since I’d thought she was a secret, malevolent hunter of my people just a few hours ago. Anxiety was fickle like that, I supposed.

Still, it did make me feel silly as we strolled the rest of the way to Siobhan’s house.

My father had always seemed so collected.

Cool as a cucumber. It was hard not to think that was how I was supposed to be as an alpha.

It certainly would be nicer not to have the weight of failure constantly hanging above my head.

Maybe I needed to change the way I regarded being the alpha of my pack. Yeah, maybe.

“Just to warn you,” I said as we reached Siobhan’s house on the eastern side of our lands. “Auntie Siobhan had seven kids, and each of those kids has had at least five, so it’s always a spectacle in there no matter what.”

Felicia’s eyes went wide in that cute way of hers. “You’re telling me there’s, like, thirty-six people in there?”

Huh, that was some quick math. That had to come in handy with baking. “Nah, not everyone is here every night. But twenty-five is a reasonable estimate, not counting us.”

“What the fuck…”

I knew she probably meant to whisper that under her breath, but around shifters, you had to be a whole lot quieter.

“You don’t have to,” I reiterated, but I had a strong impression that she wanted to. It never hurt to double-check, though.

Felicia grinned up at me. “I want to. Just trying to get a mental picture.”

“Honestly, like most things with our pack, it’s better to let it wash over you rather than trying to predict it ahead of time. Even if you were somehow completely right, it’s bound to change within ten minutes.”

“Hah! Fair enough. Okay then, lead the way.”

I offered her my hand, keeping my expression neutral while I waited for her to decide whether she wanted to take it or not. I wouldn’t fault her either way, but nothing could stop the pleased rumble in my chest when she took my hand and intertwined her smaller fingers with mine.

Why did that feel so right?

Well, now was not the time to question that. Normally, I would knock before entering someone else’s home, but since Arietty had verbally delivered our invitation, I figured it was fine to walk right in.

And what a scene we walked in on.

It was nothing out of the ordinary for me, but when I opened the door and a wall of sound hit us, Felicia’s eyebrows just about hit her hairline. She flinched at the raucous noise.

She recovered quickly and grinned as we took our shoes off in the foyer and entered the main hall that led to the dining room to the right, the living room to the left, and the kitchen straight ahead.

I’d visited enough to remember the general layout.

Siobhan had her own personal collection of fold-up tables so that no matter what room we ended up in, there would be seats for us.

“This way,” I said, gesturing to the dining room.

It was likely to be more crowded because the young ones preferred the living room.

And as much as I loved the teens, preteens, and kids, they could be too much.

But then again, our reunions were too much too, and Felicia had handled that just fine.

Still, it would be easier to observe and ask questions with some of the more chill members of the McCallister pack.

“Oh, look who’s here. I didn’t know we were getting a cake.

” Jason, a middle-aged man who traveled more often than he stayed, greeted us first. He’d been sticking around a lot more the past year-and-a-half, but I got the feeling it was because his youngest nephew had recently gone through the big change, and the man was realizing his time as a Cool Uncle? was about to be eclipsed by the malaise of teendom.

Luckily, I’d avoided that fate by always being painfully uncool, and it had worked for me so far.

I was a fair alpha, and that was good enough.

“No cake today, not that any of us need any,” Auntie Siobhan said from the very head of the table. “Miss Felicia is here as our guest tonight.”

“Guest?” Another murmur, and I could almost feel everyone’s apprehension rise. I understood why. They were confused and concerned about a human in our midst. Again.

It wasn’t as if my father or I had ever ordered our kind not to interact with humans. In fact, we had several contracts with human service workers who tended to things that were more involved and technical, like issues with our HVACs, or making sure any new structures were up to code.

It was one thing to be kind and friendly to strangers on official business, and another thing entirely to have a random human just drop into dinner like a shifter.

So, I might as well clear the air.

“Don’t worry everyone. Felicia is aware of our nature, and I thought this might be a wonderful opportunity for her to ask any questions she might have.”

If I’d thought it was quiet when everyone realized the baker was there, I had been sorely mistaken. Now it was dead silent. Even the cacophony in the other rooms had ground to a complete halt.

“Not sure how you knew about that, though, Auntie Siobhan.”

“I have my ways,” the older woman answered with a wan grin before Arietty entered from a side door, her plate loaded up with cornbread, a stuffed Cornish hen, and enough meatloaf to feed a hungry linebacker.

That explained it. For being so young, Arietty truly had a knack for putting her paws in things. I could definitely see her following in her father’s footsteps and being an excellent beta.

Too bad I didn’t have an heir.

My wolf sharply reminded me that I could have an heir, since a wonderful woman was standing right beside me, but I shut those thoughts down. Felicia was an independent woman and a human. Just because we’d had one incredible night together didn’t mean she was down to churn out pups.

Wolf and human pairings were rare, but I had heard that when they did happen, shifter genetics tended to be pretty dominant, and most of the children ended up as shifters themselves.

Focus. Not what we’re thinking about right now.

My wolf responded with a sentiment that felt a lot like he was telling me he certainly was thinking about it right now, and that he would continue thinking about it.

“Please, we’ve put our guest on the spot long enough.

Here, you two can sit next to me.” Siobhan gestured to the seats beside her, and the two of us made our way over.

I could smell some of Felicia’s nerves, but most of it was covered up by the heavenly, savory smells surrounding us.

Sure, it wasn’t a huge spread like we’d had at the reunion, but it was still impressive.